In studying the reports of the county superintendents to the state superintendent of public instruction, we note that the average of teachers' salaries is not reported uniformly. Some schools having 180 days of school figure the salary in nine monthly payments and some in ten. In the above table the salary is figured in nine monthly payments for 180 days, nine and one-half for 190 days, eight and one-half for 170 days, etc. One of the facts to be noted in connection with the above table is the excessive cost per day in the graded schools doing high school work. This excess is caused by low average attendance. One school had an average daily attendance as low as fifty-three per cent, and the general daily attendance was only sixty-four per cent of the number of students enrolled. For the purpose of illustrating what proportion of the taxes paid by a property holder in North Dakota is used for education, we present the following table For the sake of convenience we take the tax levy paid by a resident of Grand Forks and show for what each $100 paid in taxes was used: 1.0 mill for maintenance of institutions of higher learning-- 1.65 .2 mills for wolf bounty- .32 $ 8.55 23. Of this levy about .3 mills is appropriated from the general fund for educational purposes, of which the institutions of learning receive .25 mills. County Levy: 2. mills for schools (county tuition fund). City Levy: 13.2 mills for general expense of the city 3.5 mills for interest on indebtedness of the city -$3.28 9.02 5.75 $19.04 -$21.67 5.75 1.15 1.97 2.13 3.12 36.62 1.3 mills for hay and wood yard---. 1.9 mills for park fund.. 22.3 mills for city schools 60.9 Total____. $ 72.41 $100.00 This table shows that out of each $100 paid in taxes by a resident of Grand Forks, 25.6 mills, or $42.04, goes for education, of which $2.06 is used for the institutions of higher learning and $39.98 for the city schools. Fifty-eight per cent of the taxes paid in the city is for the purpose of conducting the city, county and state government, and forty-two per cent for school purposes. One of the conclusions arrived at from a study of the cost of education in North Dakota is that the data in the reports covering the rural, graded, consolidated and high schools is meager and limited in its scope. The report of the superintendent of public instruction covers these branches of education as a whole but does not cover the cost separately. A comparison, therefore, cannot be made, for instance, of the cost of maintaining high schools in different cities or counties of the state, or of any particular branch or department of the schools. Such data, if shown in the right way, would be valuable to boards of education in determining the proportion that should be spent on the high schools and on the different branches of education. This method of comparison would establish certain standards by means of which the different branches of education might be mesured and by which future expenditures would be guided. Perhaps some cities are confining their efforts within a too narrow range. Others may be giving more attention than necessary to certain branches. By arranging in groups, different cities and towns having nearly equal population or pupils, certain standards might be developed from an average which would be helpful. A study of the reports of some of the older states that give this matter more attention, reveals the fact that as a rule about twentyfive to forty per cent of the total expenses of the cities go to the support of the public schools. This fact cannot be corroborated for the cities of North Dakota without private investigation, on account of the lack of information given in the published reports bearing on the cost of education. The United States Bureau of Education has recently issued a new standard fiscal schedule under which all items of revenue and expenditure are completely classified. This schedule has been adopted by the Department of Superintendence of the National Educational Association and could be adopted to good advantage by the cities in North Dakota. Under a national uniform system of accounting such as this, an intelligent comparison could be made of the city. schools in North Dakota and with those of other states. Perhaps the state legislature should compel all schools in the state to adopt a uniform schedule similar to the United States schedule. In connection with these questions we would recommend the enactment of a law providing for the employment of a statistician in the office of the superintendent of public instruction, whose duty would be the collection of such data bearing on the cost of education and such other information as might be deemed advisable and helpful. He should have the authority to outline the classification of the accounts and to prescribe the methods of keeping records so that proper reports could be made therefrom. A statistician, if employed, should be a man specially trained in statistical and investigational work and should have a knowledge of this particular field. The object in adding a statistician to the corps of the office of the superintendent of public instruction is that a man serving in this capacity would be free from the many duties devolving upon the superintendent and would have time to do investigational and research work under his direction. The Educational Situation in North Dakota in the Light of Present Needs JOHN MORRIS Gillette, Professor of Sociology, University of North Dakota Nunscientific days the test of the efficiency of an educational system or institution was subjective. It was asked if this subject or that, this curriculum or that gave the best discipline or the best culture. There was no possible means of deciding, but traditional pedagogs continued to make bald assertions about the efficiency of the subjects and curricula they had inherited as they had inherited their tastes and to anathematize as vulgar and materialistic the introduction of those things which had not the approval of centuries or at least generations. During the last few years progressive students of education have abandoned the subjective test and are asking what the world for which the individual is to be educated is demanding as qualifications. This is much more scientific as a procedure than seeking to apply the subjective criterion because we are able to obtain quite definite information about what the world is and what its tendencies and demands are. The editors of this Journal have suggested that I apply the objective standard to the school system of North Dakota. After going over the field I have concluded that it is too large an undertaking for a short paper if the study were to have the desired value of being explicit. But it will be possible to treat the matter broadly and somewhat negatively. It will be illuminating to consider first the sociological demands to which all parts of the school system from bottom to top must conform. I. DEMANDS OF THE PRESENT AS AGAINST THE PAST 1. Scientific Spirit and Method. The present requires a scientific spirit and method far beyond that of past epochs. Every thoughtful student of history or of social evolution recognizes this. Comte called this the positive age as distinguished from the metaphysical which preceded it and the theological which appeared earliest. It is the positive age because the course of things may be determined by means of the application of rigid scientific tests. This is not equally true of all spheres of life. The more mathematical sciences find the readiest application of such tests. Where they may be applied to matters of life conditions are marked out and determined accurately. But this is the tendency everywhere. The ideal is that all ranges of life may be placed on the basis of complete information and accurate determination. Industrial matters are getting on this foundation very rapidly. The great producing concerns maintain large corps of trained specialists to test and to make advances in their processes. Business in which collossal sums of money are invested want no guesses. The sanitation of cities and of homes depends upon exact knowledge of the facts, the application of rigorous methods, and the establishment of conditions known in advance to be adequate to obtain health and safety. Many social matters are responding to demands for exact information and treatment. Statistical methods are entering many fields and reducing what was previously guess work and haze to ordered knowledge. Generalization also further reduces vast fields of phenomena to order and rationality and paves the way to the positive aspect of things. Every individual who is worth training has to meet the tightening grip of scientific demands. He still works under competition in various ways. If he is not armed for the conflict as are others with whom he is to compete, he stands a lessened chance. The elementary grades of our public schools are not absolved. They have the great masses of people to train. A heavy responsibility is placed on them to give what is needed now and to give it adequately. Antiquated methods, traditional points of view, and poorly equipped teachers are great obstacles to success in the lower schools of the state. When the most of our educational leaders, superintendents, and teachers know neither science nor the demands the world is making for scientifically equipped men and women, the outlook is not particularly hopeful of speedy improvement. 2. Definite Vocational Efficiency. Increasing specialization in social structure and function is making the requirement for individuals equipped to do something definite and positive more imperative. We are passing the age when it pays to be the casual worker. Untrained men and women are at a disadvantage all along the line. This is true because social evolution, like biological evolution, brings more and more differentiation of structural organs into the social organism as agencies of adjustment to the environment. The rate at which specialiatzion proceeds in industry, education, politics, medicine, religious organization, etc., is marked. It is characteristic of the age of science and invention. It is the result of differentiations in those lines. Society is becoming more definite in its structural |